Dr. Vanessa Rubio

Tropical Forest Ecologist

Expertise
PhD, University of Notre Dame, 2023

Twitter: @VannRub

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Dr. Rubio is collaborating with Dr. Evan Gora at the Cary Institute and Dr. Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert at the University of Birmingham to study giant tree dynamics under the Gigante project. Using data generated from field surveys and drone flights the project aims to understand when, where, and why giant tropical trees die. Likewise, aims to unravel the role of the abiotic and biotic environment in driving giant tree mortality and carbon dynamics.

Previous research

During her PhD, working with Dr. Nathan Swenson, she centered most of her research around understanding the role of stochastic and deterministic processes in assembling tropical plant communities. Understanding how these processes shape plant communities, promote coexistence, and interact at different organizational levels are relevant, especially for highly diverse communities.

Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
Linking leaf hyperspectral reflectance to gene expression
Chen, YN, L Monks, Vanessa Rubio, AJ Cox, and NG Swenson. 2025. “Linking Leaf Hyperspectral Reflectance to Gene Expression”. COMMUNICATIONS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT 6 (1). doi:10.1038/s43247-025-02696-1.
Storms Are an Important Driver of Change in Tropical Forests
Gora, Evan M., IR McGregor, HC Muller-Landau, JC Burchfield, KC Cushman, Vanessa Rubio, GB Mori, MJP Sullivan, MW Chmielewski, and A Esquivel-Muelbert. (2025) 2025. “Storms Are an Important Driver of Change in Tropical Forests”. ECOLOGY LETTERS 28 (7). doi:10.1111/ele.70157.
The functional underpinnings of tropical forest dynamics-Functional traits, groups, and unmeasured diversity
Swenson, NG, and Vanessa Rubio. 2024. “The Functional Underpinnings of Tropical Forest Dynamics-Functional Traits, Groups, and Unmeasured Diversity”. BIOTROPICA. doi:10.1111/btp.13360.